Children’s Eye Care in Northolt, Greenford & Harrow

We provide children’s eye care in Northolt, Greenford & Harrow. We see children from other areas too. Children’s eye care is an important service we provide. Did you know that the NHS recommends you bring your child for an eye examination every year?

How would you know if your child had a vision problem?

Children are not always able to communicate if they cannot see colours properly or if one eye is weaker than the other. Or even if they find it difficult to read due to their vision. Some of these problems can have an adverse effect on their schooling and even their choice of profession later in life. The good news is that all of these problems can be picked up through a routine sight test and then managed effectively by the Optician. Your child will be screened for binocular vision problems, colour vision defects, reading problems, eye turns, lazy eyes and many more. We are able to see children from any age so you should bring them just before they start nursery or earlier if you have any concerns.

We are able to check the sight of a child from 2½ years of age, sometimes even younger.

How do we do this?

We use pictures if your child is able to recognise/ speak.

If your child does not know words yet, we use letter matching, this is very effective for most children. Its very well suited to kids who are shy as they don’t need to say a word!!

If your child is unable to do this we are able to use a special light from an instrument called a retinoscope to check the power of the eye.

We check they are using both eyes effectively using a number of tests, including a 3D test.

The NHS provides funding for children’s eye care and recommends children to have a routine eye examination every year. This becomes even more important if there is short sightedness in the family, or a squint/eye turn in the immediate and extended family.

If there is a problem that needs further investigation, for children’s eye care in Northolt, Greenford & Harrow, there are three local places where ophthalmology services for kids are available. Moorfields Eye Hospital runs paediatric clinics at Ealing Hospital and Northwick Park Hospital. Closer to Northolt, Grand Union Village off Ruislip road provides a Ophthalmology service too.

If your child requires glasses, we have a large range to choose from. The NHS funds a complete pair of glasses for all children under 16 from a selected range. The NHS will also fund a complete pair of glasses should your child loose or break their glasses.

The Optometrist will check to make sure the frames fit well. Ideally, we advise you allow your child to be happy with the design/colour of their new glasses. This will make them more likely to wear the glasses. Of course, this will depend on an appropriately fitting frame but we try to keep your child happy!

We have been providing children’s eye care in Northolt, Greenford & Harrow for over 5 years now and have had good feedback about the service we provide. If you would like to discuss your child’s eye care and vision correction options with us we would be happy to speak to you.

8 Signs of possible eye problems in children

Rubbing their eyes a lot (if they are tired, don’t worry, this is normal)

Being clumsy – do they bump into thing or have poor hand/eye coordination?